A Monster in Halloweentown
by BunnieBangBang
Summary: Upon his death, Francœur awakens to find himself in Halloweentown. With his new friend Jack Skellington at his side, they set off to find Francœur's friends in the human afterlife. (A Monster in Paris/Nightmare Before Christmas/Corpse Bride). Please be aware that all character pairings are the same as their respective movies.
1. Chapter 1

Welcome, everyone! This story is a Monster in Paris/Nightmare Before Christmas/Corpse Bride crossover. The romantic pairings in the story are the same as they were each of the films; this is actually meant to be a continuation, more or less, of their stories. I'm not very good at introducing new stories, so have fun reading!

I claim no ownership to A Monster in Paris, The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Corpse Bride, or their characters. I make no money from this, please don't sue :D.

A Monster in Halloweentown 

Chapter One: New Arrival 

Paris was drenched in rain once again on a sad, dark day. Notre Dame's bells rang a slow dirge, mourning with the rest of her city. Pedestrians with ashen faces hovering above black and gray coats either hurried towards the cemetery (already nearly full with a great crowd of people) or went a bit more slowly and sorrowfully about their daily lives than usual.

Eventually, the city folk finished gathering around a new, larger than average grave. Many years ago, five Parisians had cleared the shadows cast upon their city during a terrible flood, bringing light and happiness back into their lives. The music of two in particular had charmed them after long, hard days and brought droves of tourists from all over the world. Death, however, comes for all, and one by one, each of the five departed. These past few years, only one had been left. Now, just the night prior, even he had passed, and was now being buried beside his friends.

Francœur, the Monster of Paris, was dead.

* * *

Francœur opened his eyes slowly, confused that he felt hard ground beneath him rather than his soft, old bed. Above him floated a yellow moon, familiar and yet larger than he remembered. All of the usual ridges he had memorized during long nights staring out of his bedroom window were there, and yet this moon seemed so foreign to him. Hesitantly, he sat up to see where he was.

A dark and eerie graveyard surrounded him. Cold gravestones and withered looking flowers and herbs jutted out of the cold, dead earth, and a large hill with an odd spiral cliff dominated the graveyard's center. Francœur had already guessed at his passing: all of the aches and pains he had gained in old age had melted away. That, in combination with his sudden transportation to an unfamiliar location, had confirmed, in his mind, he was no longer amongst the living.

Francœur was at peace with this thought. He had become quite old and tired the last few years. He would miss the children and grandchildren, his "nieces and nephews" he had left behind, certainly. He knew they must be quite heartbroken; but he was ready to see his first and oldest friends again after so long without them.

That thought, however, raised an interesting question. This dreary graveyard was nothing like the bright, soft afterlife Lucille had described to him on occasion. Fear gripped his heart as old insecurities rose to the surface once again, ones that he hadn't felt in a very long time. What if he, as a monster, was not fit for Lucille's Heaven?

What if he was doomed to spend eternity alone, without any of his friends?

The sound of footsteps crunching on dead leaves brought a halt to his impending panic. Hope flared in his chest, which turned rapidly into a mixture of confusion, fear, and a great deal of curiosity once the walker came into view. Coming towards him with long strides was what could only be described as a tall, well-dressed skeleton. Francœur wondered: could he no longer be the only Monster in Paris? Of course, he conceded to himself, this couldn't possibly be a graveyard in Paris, and he had never been far from the city during his life. There could be a whole world of monsters he never knew about.

The skeleton before him looked to be as tall as he, wearing a crisp pinstripe suit with a bowtie styled to look like a bat. Its head was an odd round shape, and its limbs were incredibly long, much like Francœur's own. While there were no eyes set within the skull, Francœur could feel its gaze coming from deep within the black sockets. Somehow, Francœur could feel not malevolence, but a deep kindness in that gaze.

Once it was close, the skeleton paused for a moment, then spread its arms wide with a flourish. "Welcome, welcome kind…sir?"

At the question, Francœur realized he was somehow wearing the first clothes he had ever owned, ones that had worn out to rags long ago. His long black coat, red scarf, and chapeau he had accidentally "borrowed" from that man in the alley was with him again, obscuring his features in the dim graveyard. Hesitantly, Francœur nodded to let the skeleton (whom he now knew to be a male as well) know he was correct in his assumption.

"Excellent! Welcome, welcome again!" The skeleton grinned broadly at him. "When the witches said we had a new arrival on the way, they couldn't really give me many details to go on, sadly. Would you please tell me your name?"

Francœur wasn't sure of what to do. Once Lucille had taught him how to write, he had always carried around a little notebook for when communication was necessary. The pockets of his old coat, however, were quite empty.

"A shy one, aren't you? Well, I suppose this may all be very strange to you. Come on, friend. Stand up and let's see what we have to work with!"

Slowly, Francœur stood. As he raised his head, his scarf shifted down, revealing his face in a way similar to his first encounter with Lucille.

"Oh, my! A giant flea? I have to admit that's a new one!" The skeleton clapped him on the back. "I'm sure the Professor would love to meet you, see what makes you tick. For now, can you write?"

Francœur nodded.

"Excellent!" The skeleton fished around inside of his jacket pockets for a moment, then produced an oddly charred scrap of parchment with a bent quill and handed them to Francœur. After scribbling for a moment, he placed the parchment back into the skeleton's hands:

 _I am Francœur of Paris. It is nice to meet you._

Lucille had always been adamant about good manners, after all – even if she did tend to forget them when it came to Raoul.

"Splendid to meet you, Monsieur Francœur, just splendid!" The skeleton stood tall and posed dramatically, and Francœur couldn't help but smile. "I am Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King! And welcome to Halloweentown!"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: Welcome to Halloweentown

Francœur and Jack walked together, away from the graveyard's center. Francœur looked around him curiously, more at ease now that he knew the strange skeleton was so friendly. He was also starting to feel more at ease with his surroundings; sure, everything was dark and dead looking, but there was still a certain beauty to the landscape. Even the crooked, creaking buildings in the town before them looked oddly quaint.

"My lovely wife and Zero are waiting for us. She's a wonderful cook, my Sally! We've entertained the vampires on occasion, so I'm sure she has some sort of blood-based recipe for you."

Francœur had to admit that his mouth was watering at that statement. During life the local butchers often treated him to a quart here and there, and Lucille tried to cook with it for him on occasion, but out of respect to his human friends, it was much more common for him to settle for meals far less likely to cause them queasiness. Fortunately, he learned very quickly after his transformation that his larger body was at least somewhat suited for most human food, especially rather rare meats. Realizing he had become lost in his thoughts of the past, Francœur quickly turned and nodded at Jack with a smile to let him know he was grateful for the consideration.

Jack smiled back. "Over dinner we can discuss where we're going from here: get you set up in a house, see what type of work you may be suited for, that sort of thing."

Fortunately, with four arms, it was relatively easy to stabilize the parchment enough to write. _Work? Is it anything like work in life?_

Jack frowned in thought. "I'm not sure. It would depend on what you did in life. Here, we all work towards one thing: to make the best Halloween there has ever been seen every year!" He placed a long hand on Francœur's shoulder. "You do like Halloween, don't you?"

Francœur nodded happily. In Paris, those who celebrated looked like monsters too on Halloween. Some even dressed up to look like him!

"Just as I thought! I think you'll make a great addition to Halloweentown."

By this time they had reached Halloweentown proper. They walked over cobblestones, passed by a rather interesting fountain, and made their way to a house raised high above the ground. Jack walked up to the front door and gave a couple of courtesy knocks before opening the door. "Sally? Zero? I'm home with our new friend!"

Francœur was startled by loud barking. Suddenly, a spectral dog floated _through_ a wall and swirled all around him, barking and panting happily.

"Down, Zero, down! You'll have plenty of time to get to know him tonight." Jack beckoned Zero over to him and gave him a friendly scratch behind the ears, though Francœur was unsure how.

"Jack?" A young, smiling woman walked into the room. While Francœur could tell she was no normal human from the stitching all over her, he couldn't help but feel a stab of sorrow; her long red hair was quite similar in color to Lucille's in her youth. "Welcome home! Who is this? The new arrival?"

Jack strode forward to give Sally's hand a kiss. "This, love, is Monsieur Francœur from Paris. Francœur, this is my little rag doll Sally."

Francœur chirped happily and offered a limb to shake her hand.

Jack clapped a hand on Francœur's back as they shook. "Sally, do you know if there are any spare notebooks in the lab? Our friend is a bit limited in terms of communication."

Sally smiled softly. "Of course. I brought home a whole pack just yesterday. You do go through them quickly, after all." She turned to go back through the door she entered by. "Would you be a dear and collect one, Jack? Dinner is almost ready. Francœur, come with me; I'm sure I've got a few pints in the icebox to make something for you."

While Jack ran through another door, Francœur followed Sally through the door which led to a small but clearly well-loved kitchen. An unfamiliar but wonderful smelling stew was simmering on an old wood burning stove. He breathed in the scent appreciatively.

"Oh!" Sally smiled at him. "Have you had stew before? I thought fleas only drank blood."

Francœur hummed and nodded, but then paused and shook his head.

Sally tapped her cheek in thought. "Hmm…you have, but nothing like mine?" He nodded rapidly, happy she understood him. "I know just what to do then!" She walked over and opened an old icebox and stuck her head in for a moment. "Here we are!"

When she stood straight again, she was holding a sealed quart of dark red blood. She walked back over to the stove and pulled down a second pot from an overhead rack. Without spilling a drop, she filled the new pot about halfway full of stew, then added the blood until the pot was nearly full. Stirring slowly, she turned her head to give him a smile. "There we go! Hopefully this will come out well. I've no taste for blood myself so I've had to depend on the vampires' opinions to know if the dish is any good."

Francœur smiled back, hoping she could see the gratitude in his expression. His lack of ability to communicate could be irritating sometimes. Sadly it seemed that human words only worked for him in song, no matter how hard he tried to translate the words to basic speech. A limitation of the Professor's potion, he supposed.

Just as Sally was ladling steaming stew into bowls, Jack entered the kitchen, a black leather bound book and a more modern pen in hand. "Here you are, Francœur. I prefer writing with quills, but it wouldn't be very practical for you to juggle ink, book and quill wherever you go. That book's blank, so it's yours to keep."

Francœur accepted the items with a grin.

 _Thank you very much, Jack. And thank you for dinner, Mme. Sally. It smells wonderful. Do not worry about the taste, I'm sure it's perfect._ They may not have been necessary words, but he wanted to show his gratitude to such friendly hosts.

Sally giggled. "So polite! Well, it's ready, so let's sit and talk. I'm sure you have lots of questions, Francœur."

Francœur chirped his affirmation, then sat at a black wooden table. He carefully picked up the hot wooden bowl in front of him and sipped at the stew. His eyes widened in delight. He'd never tasted anything so good! Lucille hadn't been able to cook with blood much, though she had certainly tried for her friend. Her food was good, but Sally's showed she clearly had more practice.

"So," Jack started after they had all had a few bites, "as I mentioned earlier, everyone in Halloweentown works for one goal: to create Halloween every year, and to make each one better than the last! It's too bad you can't speak, really. Every year there is a song, and the whole town participates…"

Francœur smiled wide and chittered excitedly.

 _I may not be able to speak, but I can sing! I can not fully tell you why I can do one and not the other, but I imagine it has something to do with what made me what I am. However, I was actually a musician in life, at a cabaret called The Rare Bird._

Jack and Sally smiled widely at each other. "Wonderful!" Jack cried. "I'm surprised we've never heard of a singing flea in Paris. I am quite famous there, myself…or, at least, I was. Now that I think about it, I can't remember the last time I was there."

Francœur shook his head. He, at least, had never heard of the skeleton before coming to Halloweentown.

"Ah, well, it doesn't matter. It sounds like you've got quite the story. If you don't mind, how did you come to be? What was your life in Paris like?"

Francœur wrote out most of the details of his transformation and first few days of his new life, of his friends' help and being pursued by Victor Maynott. His extra arms let him eat and write easily. Once he finished, Jack took the book and read it out loud so Sally could keep eating.

"Well, that certainly sounds like it was an adventure!" Jack exclaimed. "You're fortunate to have made such good friends. I know from experience humans seldom react well to unusual beings like us, though obviously you know that already."

Francœur nodded sadly. He'd rather not have gone through the conflict with Maynott. Even if everything had worked out in the end for him and his friends, he didn't really have any ill feelings towards the man who had tried to kill him, though he was less okay with the fact he had aimed that gun at Lucille and Raoul. The retelling of his story had only sharpened his desire to see his friends again as well. Life had been much dimmer without Lucille, Raoul, Emile, and Maud.

Jack understood at least some of his expression. "You miss them, don't you? Of course you do. You don't go through all of that together and not come out the other end closer than family. Still living?" Francœur shook his head. "No? You were quite long lived for a flea, then. I suppose the potion had a hand in that. Dead then? Hmmm…" Jack tapped his chin in thought. "Well, we have a lot of work to do for Halloween, especially now that we have a new arrival, but I doubt your heart would really be into it fresh from the grave and wondering where your friends are…"

Francœur felt a twinge of hope. Could Jack be saying what it seemed? Could his friends be nearby in this strange world?

Jack nodded to himself. "Well, old Bonejangles does get around…"

Francœur couldn't help it. He wrote out as quickly as he could: _Do you know where they are? Can I see them?_

Jack patted one of his arms. "Yes…and no. The human afterlife is a little bit simpler, but also more complex, than the afterlife is for unusual souls like ours. I was human once, after all. But my life attracted attention from the Spirit of Halloween, and that's why I'm here." Jack waved off the question in Francœur's eyes. "That's a story for another day. However, it's fortunate you're here in Halloweentown and not, say, Christmastown. We've only known about the other towns for a few years, but we have learned that Halloweentown's graveyard is the only place amongst them with a more or less direct path to the human afterworld. I'll tell you about the other towns sometime, as well. They're quite nice, though our first contact with each other didn't really…go well."

Sally laughed. Francœur could tell there was much more to it than that. Right now, however, he was far more focused on learning how to find Lucille and the others again.

"I don't know if Bones can help us; his grave is in England, not France. But he's been around for a long time, so he might at least have a friend in France, maybe even Paris, who can help. Any memory of which cemetery they're in?"

Francœur nodded. _Same as mine. Montmartre Cemetery._

Jack nodded. "I know that one, I think. Haven't been there for a long time, so my memory may be wrong. Hopefully Bones knows someone down there. Not as simple as just popping in, I'm afraid." He pulled a pendant shaped like a skull out of his jacket pocket. "I had a feeling you'd have some unfinished business, so I grabbed this while I was getting the book. Elder Gutknecht, another friend of mine, gave this to me after Bones and I had crossed paths enough to become friends. As a musician, Bones would wander to the surface on occasion to hear the newest music, and I often came across him popping out of our own cemetery somehow. Turns out our cemetery connects to the human afterlife and most human cemeteries, something that came in handy a few years ago. However, to actually unlock the door to the human afterlife, a little bit of magic is needed. So Gutknecht made this amulet for me so I could have access to their little corner of the afterlife. Sadly, it only works for that specific one." Jack fingered the pendant a little. "However, like I said, they might know someone in France who can get us in to the Montmartre piece."

Francœur chirped with joy. It wasn't a guarantee, but it was a chance!

Sally started clearing the table while Jack started water for washing dishes. "I was created here in Halloweentown, so I don't know the world outside at all," Sally said. "I'll help the town continue planning Halloween while you boys go talk to Bonejangles. Someone has to keep the Mayor's head from spinning." She walked over and placed a small hand on Francœur's shoulder. "We have a guest room you can stay in tonight, Francœur. Tomorrow you'll meet the townsfolk and Jack will show you which house will be yours. After that, you and Jack should be free to go see Bones, though I know the Mayor will still throw a fit over Jack leaving." She led him to his room while Jack called out a good night. "Get some rest. Tomorrow's going to be a long day, I think."


End file.
